File Number 2917 Railroad DENVER & SALT LAKE RAILWAY Date 08/06/1945 Location SULPHUR, CO. Accident Type R.E.

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INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON

INVESTIGATION NO. 2917

THE DENVER AND SALT LAKE RAILWAY COMPANY

REPORT IN HE ACCIDENT AT SULPHUR, COLO., ON AUGUST 6, 1945

Inv-2917

SUMMARY

Railroad: Denver and Salt Lake

Date: August 6, 1945

Location: Sulphur, Colo.

Kind of accident: Rear-end collision

Trains involved: D.& R.G.W.: D.& R.G.W.

                                                                Freight                                           Passenger

Train numbers: Extra 3612 West: Extra 1703 West 1703

Engine numbers: 3612

Consist: 77 cars, caboose: 14 cars

Estimated speed: Standing: 25 m.p.h.

Operation: Timetable and train orders; yard limits

Track: Single; 1 degree 30'curve; 0.36 percent descending grade westward

Weather: Cloudy

Time: 5:15 a.m.

Casualties: 22 injured

Cause: Failure properly to control speed of following train moving within yard limits

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

INVESTIGATION NO. 2917

IN THE MATTER OF MAKING ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORTS UNDER THE ACCIDENT REPORTS ACT OF MAY 6, 1910.

THE DENVER AND SALT LAKE RAILWAY COMPANY

September 7, 1945.

Accident at Sulphur, Colo., on August 6, 1945, caused by failure properly to control the speed of the following train moving within yard limits.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION 1

PATTERSON, Commissioner:

On August 6, 1945, there was a rear-end collision between a freight train and a passenger train of the Denver end Rio Grande Western Railroad on the line of the Denver end Salt Lake Railway at Sulphur, Colo., which resulted in the injury of 11 passengers, 8 Pullman employees, 1 dining-car employee and 2 train-service employees.

Diagram

Inv. No. 2917 Denver and Salt Lake Railway Sulphur, Colo. August 6, 1945.

Location of Accident and-Method of Operation

This accident occurred on that part of the railroad designated as Subdivision 1 and extending westward from Denver to Sulphur, Colo., 86.15 miles, a single-track line in the vicinity of the point of accident, over which trains are operated by timetable and train orders. There is no block system in use. Trains of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad are regularly operated over this line. The accident occurred within yard limits on the main track at Sulphur, at a point 0.81 mile east of the station and 0.32 mile west of the east yard-limit sign. From the east there is a tangent 1,596 feet in length, which is followed by a 1 degree 30'curve to the left 1,384 feet to the point of accident and 269 feet westward. The grade is 0.36 percent descending westward.

Operating rules read in part as follows:

93. * * * Within yard limits, the main track may be used clearing first class trains * * *

Second and inferior class trains, extra trains, yard engines and light engines must move within yard limits prepared to stop unless the track is seen or known to be clear. In case of collision, responsibility rests with the approaching train or engine.

Description of Accident

Extra 3612 West, a west-bound D. & R.G.W. freight train, consisting of engine 3612, 77 cars and a caboose, stopped on the main track at Sulphur at 5 a.m., with the rear end standing 1,676 feet west of the east yard-limit sign. About 15 minutes later the rear end was struck by Extra 1703 West.

Extra 1703 West, a west-bound D.& R.G.W. passenger train, consisted of three express cars, three troop sleeping ears, one dining car, one Pullman sleeping car, two tourist sleeping cars, one troop sleeping car, one baggage car and two Pullman sleeping cars, in the order named. The first three cars were of steel underframe construction, and the remainder were of all-steel construction. This train passed Tabernash, 20.17 miles east of Sulphur and the last open office, at 4:37 a.m., and while moving at an estimated speed of 25 miles per hour it struck Extra 3612 West.

The caboose and the rear three cars of Extra 3612, and the engine and the first car of Extra 1703 were derailed. The Caboose and the rear two cars of Extra 3612, and the front end of engine 1703 were badly damaged.

It was cloudy at the time of the accident, which occurred at 5:15 a.m.

The engineer and the fireman of Extra 1703 were injured.

Discussion

About 15 minutes after Extra 3612 West stopped at Sulphur the rear end was struck by Extra 1703 West about 0.32 mile west of the east yard-limit sign.

When Extra 3612 stopped, the conductor and the flagman were in the caboose. The marker lamps on the caboose were lighted and displayed red to the rear. The first the conductor and the flagman knew of anything being wrong was when they heard a train closely approaching from the east at an excessive rate of speed. The flagman lighted a fusee, ran toward the approaching train, and was giving stop signals from a point about 150 feet east of his caboose when the engine of Extra 1703 passed him.

As Extra 1703 West was approaching Sulphur the throttle was in drifting position and the speed was about 45 miles per hour. The brakes of this train had functioned properly en route. The headlight was lighted, and the engineer was maintaining a lookout ahead. The fireman was tending the fire. When the engine was about 1,200 feet east of the east yard-limit sign the engineer made a 5-pound brake-pipe reduction. When the engine passed the east yard-limit sign the speed was about 35 miles per hour, an the engineer released the brakes. From this point westward, because of the curve, an embankment on the north side of the track and vegetation on the south side, the engine-men's view of the track ahead was materially restricted. When the engine reached a point a few hundred feet east of the point where the accident occurred the fireman looked westward and saw stop signals being given with a lighted fusee, and he called a warning to the engineer. The engineer immediately moved the brake valve to emergency position. The speed of Extra 1703 was about 25 miles per hour when the collision occurred. Under the rules, the speed of Extra 1703 within yard limits was required to be a controlled, that it could be stopped short of a train or an obstruction.

Cause

It is found that this accident was caused by failure properly to control the speed of the following train moving within yard limits.

Dated at Washington, D. C., this seventh day of September, 1945.

By the Commission, Commissioner Patterson.

W. P. BARTEL,

(SEAL)

Secretary.

FOOTNOTE:

1 Under authority of section 17 (2) of the Interstate Commerce Act the above-entitled proceeding was referred by the Commission to Commissioner Patterson for consideration and disposition.

Wreck Diagram